On Gossip…

Over the weekend a dear family friend spent some time with Genny. During their time together Genny said some things that weren’t entirely honest about her sister. Perhaps it was that feeling of power that comes from having information no one else has, but soon Genny started talking about things that weren’t true at all. When we spoke with her about it, Genny’s bright idea was to begin telling us things about other people. Though there was a shred of a possibility that there was some truth to her words- most of the things spewing from her mouth were just wrong.

Tonight, for family night, before the dessert and games came out- we had a bit of an object lesson on gossip.

i had Gen hold her hand out, and I filled it with Elmer’s Glue.

Your mouth is the glue bottle, the glue your gossip and your palm is people you are gossiping to.

I took her hand and smeared it onto a blank piece of paper.

The paper is the people you’ve talked about.

She looked at me, confused.

Take it back Genny. What you said. Put the words you gave to others back into your mouth.

She tried. i will give her credit, but no matter what she did, the glue made a bigger mess.

Well, at the very least try to take away the damage your gossip did to the people you talked about.

No matter what she did, the paper was wet, wrinkled and ruined.

It definitely brought the message home more so than just telling her would have…